School of Arts & Sciences

Social Work

The Social Work Program at Northwestern Oklahoma State University is accredited by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE). CSWE is a national association preserving and enhancing the quality of social work education for practice and promoting the goals of individual and community well-being and social justice. Social work education programs accredited by CSWE meet a series of rigorous standards designed by leading social work educators and practitioners to ensure students are adequately prepared for professional practice. The profession of social work in the United States looks to CSWE-accredited programs to produce social workers with the knowledge and skills to be professional social workers.

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The mission of Northwestern Oklahoma State University Social Work Program is to prepare Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) graduates to provide competent, effective, generalist practice social work services to the people of Northwest Oklahoma; to provide a regional forum for the development and dissemination of social work knowledge; to serve as a center for developing leadership in the delivery of social services in the Northwest Region; and to provide social work education grounded in the profession’s history, values, and skills.

Student Spotlight
Madeline Turner, Enid, OK, Senior

"After becoming familiar with the social work program at NWOSU, I felt confident this was the major for me. The curriculum reflects real life experiences and I am excited to apply this knowledge into the professional field of social work after graduation."

SWAT is a student-run organization that seeks to enhance the social work learning experience. The purpose is: to promote social work as an important and positive profession in Northwest Oklahoma; to uphold the National Association of Social Work code of ethics; to employ community service projects while supporting our community partners and their consumers. For more information or to join SWAT, please email SWATinfo@nwosu.edu.

The Council on Social Work Education emphasizes field education as the “signature pedagogy” of social work education and the “the central form of instruction and learning in which a profession socializes its students to perform the role of practitioner.” The Field Education program welcomes you to the practicum experience and provides students and field instructors with the Field Experience Manual which contains the policies, procedures, and descriptions of Social Work Field Education at Northwestern Oklahoma State University.

The social work major requires students to complete a 420 hour Field Experience (practicum). Upon completion or enrollment in the pre-requisite courses, students make application for the Field Experience. Admission to the Field Experience requires a review of academic performance and an assessment of the professional performance and ethical conduct of the student in the Social Work Program. Students who are deemed unprepared to assume responsibility for professional services to clients may be denied or delayed placement. The Field Experience is designed to be performed in a spring "block" practicum (420 hours) in the same setting. Students in the Field Experience courses must secure professional liability insurance for the duration of the Field Experience.

The importance of the role of the Field Instructor as teacher, guide, challenger, and role model to the student cannot be underestimated. Field Instructors perform these responsibilities on a voluntary basis, often to give back what they were given and to continue to remain current and challenged in their thinking about the practice role they perform and the social issues they face in their work with individuals, families, groups, neighborhoods, communities, and organizations. As Field Instructors help students learn to be social work practitioners through teaching and mentoring, our program serves as a resource, liaison, and support in the field instruction process. Field Instructors make invaluable contributions to our students, our program, and the social work profession. Without them, our mission to educate social work students could not be fulfilled. We appreciate their dedication, time, and understanding of the importance of Field Education.

The Child Welfare Professional Enhancement Program (CWPEP) offers students the opportunity to make a commitment to serve Oklahoma families and children at risk of abuse and/or neglect. Applications are available to all undergraduate social work majors who are U.S. citizens or legal permanent residents of the U.S.

This program is funded by the Oklahoma Department of Human Services (OKDHS), Children and Family Services Division, through Title IV-E of the Social Security Act.

Statewide Professional Development Opportunities

Coordinated by the University of Oklahoma School of Social Work, the Child Welfare Professional Enhancement Program is also available to other accredited undergraduate social work programs, including OU at Norman, East Central University at Ada, Oral Roberts University at Tulsa and Northwestern Oklahoma State University at Alva, Enid and Woodward. These BSW programs and the OU Graduate Program at both the Norman and Tulsa sites work jointly to provide an exciting opportunity for social work majors who desire a career in public child welfare. Each school awards stipends or pays tuition costs, certain fees and required textbooks up to the total amount of the stipend to a certain number of students each year.

CWPEP is available to Native American tribal employees if the tribe has a Tribal-State Agreement with OKDHS. Tribal employees are required to work in the tribe's Indian Child Welfare program upon graduation.

Student Requirements

Students accepted into the CW Professional Enhancement Program are required to take child welfare-related classes, to attend the OKDHS CORE Training Program and to have field placements in OKDHS Child Welfare county offices. Upon completion of the Bachelors degree, Social Workers enter OKDHS employment as Child Welfare Specialists.

Child Welfare Traineeships at Northwestern Oklahoma State University

Awards Given

Up to 3 per year in the BSW program (juniors and seniors)

Funding Base

Title IV-E of the Social Security Actup to a maximum of $7,876 per year could be awarded

Eligibility

Must be undergraduate social work student, junior level or above. Must demonstrate, through an application and a written essay a career interest in the field of child welfare and the willingness to be contractually obligated to work for the OKDHS, Child Welfare, for a specified period of time upon completion of degree program. All applicants are required to have a criminal background check and a driving records check to be considered for the program. Applicants must be citizens of the United States or legal permanent residents of the U.S.

The Department of Social Work houses a state of the art resource center and interviewing lab for students majoring in social work. The lab is located in Jesse Dunn 308 and is equipped with laptop computers with web camera capabilities, a video camera for recording and practicing interview skills, a printer, a flat screen television, and an in-house library of social work textbooks, selected

Students wishing to check out materials should contact the Department of Social Work at (580) 327-8134. All materials are available to social work majors on the Alva, Enid, and Woodward campuses.

The social work resource center and interviewing lab was funded by the University of Oklahoma on behalf of the OKDHS in order to assist the department in retaining quality social workers in the public child welfare system.

Transfer Credit

Social Work Transfer Credit

Transfer students may apply credit hours gained elsewhere to the social work degree. The transfer of general education credits is governed by the policies of Northwestern Oklahoma State University.

Credit hours applied directly to the requirements of the social work program must have been earned in a social work program accredited by the Council on Social Work Education, or a program in candidacy for accreditation. Transfer courses for which social work credit is sought must be reviewed and approved by the social work faculty advisor as equivalent to the social work content in courses at Northwestern Oklahoma State University.

The social work program at Northwestern Oklahoma State University does not grant academic or field practicum credit for life experience or previous work experience gained outside the context of higher educational institutions.

Program Goals

The social work program goals reflect the purpose of undergraduate social work education and are derived from the program’s mission. The social work program goals are as follows:

Prepare social workers with the knowledge, values, and skills of the social work profession to practice with individuals, families, groups, organizations and communities.

Prepare social workers for ethical practice in a rapidly changing global environment and within the complexities of rural regions.

Provide a learning environment which models respect for diversity and a commitment to ending discrimination and promoting social justice.

Prepare social workers for the use of evidence based theories, practice methods, and evaluation processes for both client and agency outcomes.

Educate lifelong learners who can think critically about the world around them.

Develop social work leaders who are able to improve the social service delivery systems in Northwest Oklahoma.

Prepare social workers with a commitment to professional growth and development.

Student Learning Outcomes

The Social Work Program at Northwestern views assessment as an integral component of competency based education. The student learning outcomes are identified as nine social work core competencies and 31 social work practice behaviors. The core competencies and practice behaviors are as follows:

C1. Demonstrate Ethical and Professional Behavior.

Practice Behaviors:

1. Make ethical decisions by applying the standards of the NASW Code of Ethics, relevant laws and regulations, models for ethical decision-making, ethical conduct of research, and additional codes of ethics as appropriate to context.

2. Use reflection and self-regulation to manage personal values and maintain professionalism in practice situations.

3. Demonstrate professional demeanor in behavior; appearance; and oral, written, and electronic communication.

4. Use technology ethically and appropriately to facilitate practice outcomes.

5. Use supervision and consultation to guide professional judgment and behavior

C2. Engage Diversity and Difference in Practice.

Practice Behaviors:

6. Apply and communicate understanding of the importance of diversity and difference in shaping life experiences in practice at the micro, mezzo, and macro levels

7. Present themselves as learners and engage clients and constituencies as experts of their own experiences

8. Apply self-awareness and self-regulation to manage the influence of personal biases and values in working with diverse clients and constituencies.

19. Collect and organize data, and apply critical thinking to interpret information from clients and constituencies

20. Apply knowledge of human behavior and the social environment, person-in-environment, and other multidisciplinary theoretical frameworks in the analysis of assessment data from clients and constituencies

21. Develop mutually agreed-on intervention goals and objectives based on the critical assessment of strengths, needs, and challenges within clients and constituencies

22. Select appropriate intervention strategies based on the assessment, research knowledge, and values and preferences of clients and constituencies.

The Social Work Program Advisory Board is comprised of social workers, practitioners, and leaders in our local communities that foster and support the continued development of social work education in the region. While members come from different communities, the committee is seen as one functional unit and focuses on the overall development of the program. The primary purpose of the board is to maintain active communication between the social work practice community and the program to ensure continued improvement. The Social Work Program Advisory Board addresses the following: student preparation to meet community and agency needs, expectations for students in field education, program assessment outcomes, input on educational policies, student recruitment and retention, job placement, research initiatives, and identifying agency needs that the social work program can address to contribute to community betterment.